Rancho Cordova’s Cesca signs deal with N.Y. cord blood bank

Cesca Therapeutics Inc., the Rancho Cordova-based medical equipment firm, says it has a contract to provide its cord blood and cell storage technology to a major cord blood bank in Syracuse, N.Y.

The local company said the contract is with Upstate Medical University’s Upstate Cord Blood Bank, one of two public blood cord banks in New York state and one of only 27 in the United States. UMU is part of the State University of New York system.

The Upstate blood bank, housed in a new $15 million health sciences center, will collect, process and store umbilical cord blood donated by families in New York. Cord blood will be banked and used by those in need of medical treatment and for medical research.

Cesca has two technologies used in the process: the BioArchive cryogenic cell storage system and its AutoXpress system that uses automated devices to process stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

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Cesca formerly operated as ThermoGenesis Corp. but was renamed this year after finalizing its merger with Los Angeles-based TotipotentRX Corp., which develops cell-based therapies in the field of regenerative medicine.